Missing WWII Lighter Miraculously Found

A solid-silver lighter lost at sea during World War II was returned to its rightful owner in Northern California 62 years later.

Aubrey Kyle said he thought he lost the keepsake, a gift from his wife, forever when he dropped it aboard the USS Black Hawk. The Navy veteran dropped the lighter while aboard the ship in 1945 after carrying it for two years.

"I thought, 'There's nothing I can do about it,'" Kyle said. "'It fell from my pocket into the ocean. It's gone forever.'"

But sailor Russell Rhindress found the lighter. When he died, his children set out to find its rightful owner.

Kyle's children discovered the lighter on the Internet, retrieved it and presented it to their father two weeks ago at a family reunion.

"I was surprised, absolutely, really surprised. And the lighter was almost exactly as I remembered it," Kyle said.

Aubrey Kyle said he plans to put the lighter in a safe deposit box so he doesn't lose it again.